City of Secrets
by StillDon'tHaveALife
Summary: Jace's childhood friends suddenly appear after ten years of being separated. Following them is more misfortune all leading up to...


***** This FanFic will contain spoilers, if you have never read any of the Mortal Instruments Series.**

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><p>"Psst, Romeo," Ariya whispered as she silently entered the Sanctuary, "what the hell is slowing you down back there? I thought the damned were supposed to be fast."<p>

She slowly set the bags down in the middle of the room and took in the space. The walls had one continuous painting wrapping the whole room. The painting showed different scenarios with different Downwordlers, mostly vampires. An overwhelming amount of mixed emotions came over her. The past three months of her life never really gave her time to think about how she really felt and her thoughts about everything that has happened to them, until now. Suddenly, she heard a loud noise wrecking her train of thought. She quickly glanced back at her brother who just dropped a suitcase.

"Bloody hell, Romeo! What happened to quietly entering the room?" she cried, half of her wanted to yell at him for scaring her, "I thought we were trying not to attract attention to ourselves!", while the other half just wanted to smile and hug him.

"Sorry," Romeo retorted as he dropped the rest of what he was carrying while the other hand ran through his silver hair, "but you don`t need to be so vulgar, you might as well label me as an illegal immigrate named Juan."

She rolled her eyes at him when she heard something. Quickly, her hand found her stele and delicately drew some runes on the door to open it and stuck her head out into the hallway. A fairly tall boy in Shadowhunter black walked by with a girl limp in his arms. He was well built and had golden hair.

"Is that Jonathan?" Ariya asked, her eyes narrowing.

"It must be," Romeo said, as he watched the boy walk into a room, "you know, seeing that he`s tall, has blonde hair and he also seems to be fairly cocky. Also, he`s got a girl in his arms. But it is sort of different. She`s unconscious opposed to what the usual -" he paused thinking over what he was about to say, "You should go say hi now."

A few moments later the boy had walked out. Ariya got a much better look of him and saw how much he had grown. She saw his beautiful golden eyes. _That`s definitely Jonathan_, she thought, _his eyes give it away. _Suddenly a blue Persian cat spotted them and let out a loud meow towards their direction. Ariya saw Jace quickly turning around. She cursed under her breathe and quickly tried to close the door before he saw them. The hall was now filled with hysterical meowing and footsteps. Romeo looked at her confused.

"What the hell is that noise?" he asked, as she walked towards him.

Just then the door flung open, revealing an irritated looking Jace carrying the Persian cat. Ariya swiftly spun around on her heel to face him. Jace`s expression went from surprise to confusion.

"What the -" he started.

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><p>Jace slowly walked up stairs of the Institute, carrying an unconscious Clary in his arms. The Institute doors creaked as he opened them; he walked into the familiar candle-lit entrance towards the elevator. He tried to shift most of the weight of the limp body over to his left arm as open the gate of the elevator and stepped into it. The elevator creaked and groaned under the weight as it went up. The halls were the same calm as they were any other day. He walked past many different rooms to get to the Infirmary. The rooms always gave off an eerie and cold feeling that made him shudder. There were beds covering the entire room, all were covered in white sheets. Jace gently dropped Clary onto a nearby bed and pulled a blanket over her. For a moment he stood there analyzing her state. She looked pale as if there was no more blood pumping through her body. <em>I should go get Hodge,<em> Jace thought quickly.

As soon as he stepped into the hallway he felt like someone was watching him. He shrugged off the feeling and kept walking towards the library. Suddenly, Church started meowing. It sounded like someone just stepped on his tail.

"I have no time for this right now Church," Jace said angrily as he walked over to the cat.

But the cat kept with its crazed meowing. Jace grew agitated and picked up the cat, hoping it will somehow be quite on its own. Then he realized Church was meowing at a certain door. Quickly, he opened the door and saw two people. One had their back turned to him, but the other was looking straight at him.

"What the –" Jace paused, confused, as the other person turned around.

Both of them had icy blue eyes. The boy had the palest skin and short silver hair. He was about a head taller than the girl beside him. She had fair skin and the darkest shade of black hair, somehow darker than Isabelle`s hair. They both had the most different looks he`s ever seen. Then the girl took a step closer to him.

"Jonathan?" she asked with a crisp British accent, "Jonathan Christopher Wayland?"

Jace stared at the girl`s hopeful eye and was taken back. The last time he heard that name was when he was ten. He was hesitant to answer. They were obviously strangers but there was something familiar about them. Jace straightened up and held their gaze.

"How the hell do you know me?" he said, trying to sound confident.

He dropped the still irritated Church on the floor in front of him.

"Did you already forget about us," the boy said as he smirked, "Wayland?"

_That smirk… it`s so familiar,_ thought Jace as images of a field in Idris came into his head. The memory was slowly starting to play in his head. There were two other children with him. One was a boy, the other a girl. They looked like they were at the age of eight. The little girl, who was sitting about three metres away from them, had shoulder-length, black hair. The boy was standing right in front of a young Jace. He had silver hair, a few shades darker than the teenage boy standing in front of him now. He looked irritated. There was an amused smirk painted across his face. The last thing Jace could remember was a family crest. It was a heart wrapped in thorns.

"I mean it's only been six years," the boy continued, also in a British accent "I would think you Waylands had a better memory."

The girl fixed her hair and started playing with a ring, obviously upset and agitated at the situation. Jace frowned. _I`ve met these two before,_ he thought, _but they seem like complete strangers to me. _He looked down at the girl`s ring. It had a crest on it, the same crest from his memory.

"Romeo, enough," the girl said, angered, "if we`re going to beg for help it might as well be in front of someone who remembers us."

She started towards some bags in the center of the room. The boy, named Romeo, quickly growled at Jace and followed after the girl.

"Wait," Jace said suddenly, "You two are the Darkblood twins. Ariya and Romeo Darkblood."

Ariya paused, turned around and walked towards Jace. Everything became silent. The only sound heard was Ariya`s high heeled boots, that looked very modern but with a vintage, Victorian twist. She stopped about five inches away from him. In that process she had stepped on the blue Persian cat`s tail which sent the cat hissing as he ran out of the room.

"Good, Wayland, remembered us," she said not directing it towards him, "I thought he wouldn`t even remember us at all."

Romeo growled at Jace again.

"Unfortunately, you aren`t entirely correct," she noted slyly as she had smug look on her face, "for you see, Romeo is no longer a Darkblood. Not technically. In fact he is no longer human. The blood pumping through his veins is no longer his. He needs others` blood to survive. Do you understand?"

Jace`s brow furrowed in confusion. He took a quick glance at Romeo. He had a completely blank look on his face, but he looked normal. Ariya uttered a sigh of slight annoyance.

"Do I have to spell it out for you, Jonathan?" her voice had an undertone of anger in it, but at the same time her accent and the way she had said it subdued Jace.

Jace felt a little frustrated at the fact that someone could actually make him feel like a five year old; like he was the inferior who needed to be taught how to live. It was embarrassing. For a moment there was a silence as the other two waited for his answer. Then it came to him.

"No, of course not," Jace finally said, trying to hide his relief, "I`ve always thought of Romeo as a blood-sucking leech."

Suddenly Romeo was at Jace`s side, lunging towards him with a fist. Quickly, Jace dodged Romeo and tried to throw a punch of his own. But something stopped him. It was like his mind stopped everything and froze. He heard a tapping on the floor. Both he and Romeo turned towards Ariya`s direction, who was now about a metre away from them.

"Can you two at least try to get along for five minutes?" she cried furiously.

She looked like she had more to say but footsteps interrupted her. The door creaked open and Church pranced in and shortly after a tall girl wearing a short red dress and knee-high boots walked in. Her hair black was in a long braid that reached down to her waist. She looked at Jace and then the other two as she closed the door.

"Jesus, Jace," she said settling her eyes on him, "try to introduce your guests to the rest of us next time before you start fighting with them"

"For your information Izzy, they showed up by themselves," he told her as a fact, "I didn`t exactly invite anyone over -"

There was a loud meow that interrupted him. Everyone turned to Church as he pranced over to Romeo`s leg and cuddled it. The boy ran his left arm through his thick silver hair as he nervously laughed.

"I`m sorry for causing such a commotion," he said to Isabelle, "I`m Romeo Darkblood and that girl standing over there is my sister, Ariya."

For a moment Isabelle`s eyes lingered with interest on Romeo, then turned to Jace.

"Dinner`s almost ready," she said as she watched Jace`s expression turn from annoyance to mortification, "don`t worry I ordered in, but you might want to tell Hodge about your little visitors."

Isabelle stared at the other girl with suspicion. Ariya stared back blankly.

"What do you mean by that?" Ariya retorted.

"Well, I mean you," Isabelle said drawing out her words.

"What about the other girl?" Ariya smirked.

Isabelle`s eyes widened. She quickly turned to Jace.

"What girl?" she asked furiously.

"The girl with the bright red hair," Ariya chimed in, obviously enjoying the situation.

"What? What is she doing in here?" Isabelle was turning red with rage.

"She was stung by a Ravener Demon, what was I supposed to do?" Jace asked.

Ariya seemed satisfied and walked over to her brother. He looked awkward as the cat was rubbing against his leg. Then it hissed and run as Ariya came close and whispered something to him. Romeo nodded, picked up his two duffel bags and left the room.

"Jace you`re unbelievable! Go get Hodge" Isabelle cried while walking towards the door, "and take your friend."

Ariya stood still as Isabelle loudly slammed the door behind her. Jace moved towards her. She looked at him in the eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked softly.

"Romeo and I need your help," she answered holding his gaze.

"Why? The last time I saw you two you were leaving to stay in London," he began to feel insecure, no girl has ever held his gaze with such confidence.

"Both my mother and father left," she sighed, "and the Enclave in London told us to find another place to live because of Romeo`s . . . state, and what our parents have done."

"Alright, we should go get Hodge now," he said as he finally looked away from her and started towards the bags in the middle of the room.

He picked up the suitcase and a duffel bag. Ariya was on his heels and picked up a duffel bag of her own. She took one last look at the room before they went into the hall.

"You know," Jace started as they turned a corner, "I could hardly even recognize you when you showed up asking me if I was Jonathan. I only recognized Romeo."

"You could also blame the British accent for that," she answered quietly.

"Not only that, but you`ve changed, your appearance I mean."

"As have you. You`re no longer a timid little angel boy I last saw six years ago."

He opened a room and dropped the suitcase and duffel bad.

"Here`s your room. Become comfortable with it."

Ariya stood there for a while was Jace walked out of the room. Then she quickly dropped her bag and hurried after Jace.

"Jace," she said as she fell into step with him.

"Hmm?"

"The girl with the black hair, she called you Jace," she replied as she played with her ring.

"Isabelle," he clarified, "Yes, she did call me Jace."

"Why?"

Jace felt has if he was just insulted; everybody called him Jace.

"I guess it`s just a name that has developed over the years," he explained, sighing.

"Oh," she looked down at her feet, "I`m guessing you would like me to call you that?"

Jace looked down at her. Her looks were striking. Like nothing he`s ever seen before. Her long black hair only emphasized her icy blue eyes.

"Only if you can get used to it yourself," he shrugged, "but if you can`t just keep calling me Jonathan."

They stopped in front of two big wooden doors. Ariya glanced at him.

"Are you sure you would be comfortable with me calling you Jonathan?"

"Sure."

He opened the door and revealed a humongous library. Ariya`s eyes wandered through the whole room. Suddenly, a man wearing a tweed suit emerged from behind a desk.

"Jace, what brings you here?"

"I just wanted you to know a girl named Clary is in the Infirmary because of a Ravener sting," he sighed again, "and my friend, Ariya, needs a place to stay."

The man's eyes examined Ariya for a while.

"What is your family name?"

"Darkblood, sir," she answered hastily.

His eyes grew suspicious.

"My name is Hodge Starkweather. It`s a pleasure to meet you, but I should go attend our other guest."

And with the last remark he left the room.

"Come on, we should go eat now," Jace said also about to leave the room, "You must be hungry."

Ariya nodded and followed him.

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><p>"Do you think she`ll ever wake up? It`s been three days already."<p>

Ariya was in the Infirmary with the Lightwoods. They both had black hair, similar to hers. But the girl, Isabelle, had dark brown eyes, close to black, and the boy had dark blue ones. They were about the same height, considering Isabelle was wearing very high heels.

"You have the give her time. Demon poison is strong stuff, and she`s a mundane. She hasn`t got runes to keep her strong like we do."

"Mundies die awfully easily, don`t they?"

Ariya had sat down on a bed beside the red haired girl named Clary fifteen minutes ago. She had listened the Isabelle and Alec go back and forth about mundies. _I don`t understand why most Shadowhunters hate mundanes so much,_ she thought as she read one of her favorite books.

"Isabelle, you know it`s bad luck to talk about death in a sickroom."

Isabelle and Alec didn`t really take much interest in Ariya. Alec hadn`t even introduced himself to her.

"She`s awake you know," Ariya said trying to contribute something, "mentally, not physically. I`m sure she is able to hear you this very moment."

Alec turned to her with a hint of surprise in his face.

"You`re British?" he asked, astonished.

Isabelle seemed irritated that Ariya spoke up.

"I told you it was the same girl."

"I know. Little thing, isn`t she? Jace said she killed a Ravener,"

"Yeah. I thought she was a pixie the first time we saw her. She`s not pretty enough to be a pixie, though."

"Well, nobody looks their best with demon poison in their veins. Is Hodge going to call on the Brothers?"

Ariya stiffened as she heard the title. The Silent Brothers were going to want to meet with her, especially considering the last time she had seen them was when she was twelve.

"I hope not. They give me the creeps. Anyone who mutilates themselves like that –"

"We mutilate ourselves."

And with that Ariya closed her book and started towards the door as Isabelle and Alec kept on talking.

"Where are you going?" Alec asked her.

"I`m off to find Jace. You`re right he should take some interest in her recovery. Anyways, I barely know her. Why should I be taking interest?" she replied and kept walking.

The corridors of the Institute in New York had glass lamps blown into the shapes of roses. It smelled of dust and candle wax. She could hear the faint sound of music in the background and followed it. The doors were lined up with closed doors with faded Victorian wallpaper. She smiled to herself. The feeling was familiar, it made her think of the London Institute she had lived in for so long.

She arrived at an open door. Peering inside she saw a piano in one corner and a harp in the middle. There were chairs in the far wall of the room. Ariya headed towards them.

"What are you doing here?" Jace asked, not looking up from the piano.

"I came to tell you your girlfriend is about the wake up," Ariya replied as she sat down and continued to read her book, "I mean, she`s awake."

Jace cocked his eyebrow questioningly at her as she finished the last sentence. Then he saw the title of her book: _Alice`s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. _Ariya looked up in the sudden silence. She saw an amused smile on Jace`s face.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Nothing," he said, trying not to laugh, "It`s just I thought I`d never see you with such a mundie and childish book."

Ariya frowned. _Childish? It`s a classic,_ she thought.

"It is one of my most cherished books, Jonathan," she said as she looked back down at the book, "Anyway, just because it`s a book that has context on it other than the Shadowhunter rituals, it doesn`t make it mundane. This book is very far from mundane. It is also very far from childish; it takes a great knowledge to fully understand all the things happening in this book."

Jace`s expression changed. He looked back at the piano and started playing the same tune again. Ariya hugged her knees, enjoying the moment. A few minutes passed before anything happened. Someone came into the room. She looked up and saw the girl she referred to as Jace`s _'girlfriend'_. Jace once again stopped playing the piano.

"Alec?" he said. "Is that you?"

"It`s not Alec. It`s me," she said walking into the room, "Clary."

Ariya peered over her book and saw Jace`s expression as he saw her. _Is she really his girlfriend?_ she wondered. The piano key clanked as he got to his feet.

"Our own Sleeping Beauty. Who finally kissed you awake?"

"Nobody. I woke up on my own."

Clary`s eyes wandered around the room and soon settled on Ariya with curiosity. Ariya quickly looked back down at her book, trying not to look inconspicuous.

"Was there anyone with you?"

Clary kept staring at Ariya. Ariya squirmed a little, then cleared her throat as she lowered she book to look at Clary and Jace.

"Do you two always act like this when someone else is around?" Ariya asked, mockingly.

Clary frowned at the comment, not sure what Ariya had meant, but Jace knew exactly what she meant and became angry.

"No, of course not, this is just how we act, Ariya, nothing else," Jace replied hastily.

Ariya stood up and walked over to them. She stopped and took a look quick glance at each of them. "Alright, Jonathan, suit yourself," She smiled slyly at Clary and started towards the door. "But you do remember this, Wayland, you know you can`t hide anything from me."

She kept walking, quite aggravated that Jace hadn`t told her the truth. The sound of her walking, echoed throughout the hallway. Ariya looked down at what she was wearing and couldn`t help but notice how different it was to everyone else; even Isabelle. She was wearing black ankle boots with black leggings. Her top was an over-sized lace shirt and a cream tank top under. One side of her black hair was pinned back with an extravagant clip that consisted of numerous jewels and feathers. Ariya turned into a familiar hall and saw the doors of the library. _Hodge did tell me he wanted to talk to me ….at some point,_ she thought as she opened the door.

Hodge was standing near one of the large bookshelves. He looked up as soon as he heard the door open. His brow creased as he saw Ariya. Ariya chuckled at his expression and put a very fake-looking smile on.

"Nice to see you too, Starkweather," she winked as she settled herself into a chair.

"So, it is you," he sighed.

"Who?" she asked trying to sound like she didn`t know what he was talking about.

"Don`t play me child," he raised his voice, irritated, "I know you`re that child I saw four years ago, your parents said the whole family was here on important business. Business in the Silent City."

"Did they tell you exactly what the business was?" she asked weary.

Hodge opened his mouth to say something but the doors opened. Alec walked in furious. His expression changed when he looked at Hodge and her glaring at each other.

"What`s going on in here?" he asked suspiciously has he slipped into a chair across from Ariya.

Ariya flashed one more infuriated glare before looking back at her book.

"So, Alec what your problem?" she asked, with a hint of annoyance.

Alec was token back with the question and looked hard at Ariya before answering.

"My problem is that little mundie girl in the Infirmary," he finally said.

"Is your problem that she`s a mundie, or that she seems to have some sort of connection with Jonathan?"

There was a sudden silence. Ariya was still looking at her book. But she was no longer interested in it. She smirked. The tension in the room was much more intriguing. She looked up from behind her book and saw Alec gapping at her.

"What?" she asked in a seemingly innocent voice.

The room became completely silent. There was tension in air. Suddenly, Jace burst through the door. Ariya heard Alec uttering a sigh of relief.

"A book lover, I see," Hodge said, smiling at Clary. "You didn`t tell me that, Jace."

Ariya snorted as Jace laughed. Hodge quickly shot Ariya a look. She gleamed back.

"We haven`t done much talking during our short acquaintance," Jace replied, "I`m afraid our reading habits didn`t come up."

Ariya looked around the room, trying to block the conversation. She saw Alec, slowly sinking into his chair, trying not to get noticed. Her eyes flickered between him and Jace. She quickly noticed the awe in Alec`s eyes as he stared at Jace. For a few more minutes she looked through the room with apathy. Suddenly, she stood up and started towards the door, into the hallway.

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><p><strong>No Copyright Infringement Intended. All characters, excluding Ariya and Romeo©, belong to Cassandra Clare.<strong>

**Yes, some parts are like the book, due to the fact they are from the book, because it`s following the original plot with a few new characters and twists we have added.**

**I apologize such a weak ending. We couldn`t quite think of anything else to write. And, yes, there are a few mistakes near the end because it was not edited well or properly. The end was also quickly edited by the writer, not the editor...**

**Also, give us a Review, Suggestion, Comment, Concern, Message. I don`t know. Anything you can think of.**


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